Breakfast was a success, and I got the bags for the shop. I then dropped by my local art store and bought the colored pencils and pens I wanted (decided on the 24 pencil set instead of the 12 pencil set, so I was a bad girl), and actually only indulged in four metallic pencils that caught my eye. Gemerally speaking, although I spent almost an hour looking at everything and indulged in the larger pack of pencils, I was good.

After a few more errands, I finally arrived home and started the laundry. But then, instead of opening Word and beginning to write, I picked up my sketchbook and continued to draw. I finished the main B/W piece for my friend's story and then wasted an hour trying to work through some things with Photoshop CS5. That program is a monster, and I will be working hard to get accustomed to it. But I finally gave up, moved back to my own computer with it's old Photoshop Version 5 program (yes, it's an antique but it works so very well for me) and printed out mock-ups of the next pics I want to draw for her story. I'll draw the backgrounds, then scan the images, print those out and then do the lettering (lettering is not my forte, so I need room to make errors).

Today I have a 7am auto repair appointment. They will be taking all day pulling apart my engine and checking all of my hoses and belts as well as my water pump. My car is only 400 miles away from turning 100,000 miles and this would be normal at that mileage level. I can't afford a new car (and wouldn't want one, I LOVE my PT Cruiser), so I have to make her last for at least another five years. The brakes aren't sounding very good either. *sigh* This one I'll be paying for throughout the next 6-8 months, I'm afraid. DH will pick me up from the repair shop and drop me off at work so that I can get things done there at least. Oh well, at least it's Thursday :-)

Nothing like having the right tools to create a better project. I got the 36 years ago for homeschool and never regretted it. It's a great investment,and don't those metallic pencils make your imagination itch?

I agree, the newer version is much harder for me to use. Unfortunately, my old Version 5 won't operate on Windows 7, and that's the version of Windows that my DH's new computer uses and what my new one later this year also will. I have a large PDF user's manual to work through, and I just need to get used to using the features I use daily first. I was hoping I could use my Wacom and do some digital artwork, but I don't have enough control on it yet, so I went back to pencils and original drawings instead. Not the end of the world, but a bit more time consuming.